When No One Else Is Listening

Hey, Y'all,

Today's RST brings us back to Yancey's book on prayer and expresses an idea I've mulled over but haven't really been able to put into words--Nancy Mairs does so pretty elegantly here:

"Who one believes God to be is most accurately revealed not in any credo but in the way one speaks to God when no one else is listening."

There is an awful lot of doublespeak and contradiction (and frankly straight distortion) in how God is described and "represented" by His followers, but at the end of the day, here's the truth: no matter what I say I believe, how I speak to God, how I approach Him, reveals the truth of who I believe Him to be.

Do I speak to Him like some celestial Santa Claus? Do I get irritated and short 'cause sometimes He seems more like a balky ATM than The One who has promised to supply my every need? ("but Lord I really really need this particular something...").

Do I approach Him confidently and comfortably as Paul said I should (and as I would any true friend), or meekly, like He is a vaguely irritable and gruff acquaintance who'd just as soon be left alone as be bothered by me?

Do I even speak to Him at all?

Who you believe God to be is most accurately revealed not in any credo but in the way you speak to God when no one else is listening.

I remember reading a quote that says that God is Love; not merely that 'God has love' or 'God feels love.' No. God IS love. The actual embodiment of self-sacrificing, 'I love you so much I would literally do anything to help you' love.

Believe that? Really?

So how do you speak to Him?

You've been prayed for today...